Man Group’s chief financial officer Antoine Forterre has sold about £1.5m of shares in the London-listed investment manager, shortly after the firm reported record assets under management and strong first-half results, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The transaction came as the company emerged from its interim reporting closed period, when directors and senior executives are generally restricted from trading in company shares.
Forterre’s disposal followed a particularly strong performance from Man Group, which reported record assets and gains across both its alternative and long-only investment businesses. The firm also benefited from a significant increase in performance fees during the period.
Man generated $19.8bn in overall investment performance, underscoring the contribution from its broadening range of strategies.
Chief executive Robyn Grew attributed the results to investments made over several years to diversify the business rather than to a short-term market opportunity.
The transformation has included a greater emphasis on quantitative investing and multi-strategy approaches, which management says have helped the firm generate returns that are less correlated with traditional markets while reducing overall portfolio volatility.
The strategy represents a significant evolution for Man, historically one of the world’s best-known systematic and alternative investment managers. Its expansion across different strategies and geographies has been central to its efforts to build more consistent fee-generating assets.
Man is also increasing its use of artificial intelligence, with management highlighting the growing deployment of agentic AI workflows across the business.
The technology is being incorporated into processes and investment operations, although its eventual contribution to investment performance and performance-fee generation remains difficult to quantify.
For now, the firm’s financial performance suggests that its existing investment capabilities continue to be the main driver of growth.
The next significant opportunity could come from Man’s continued expansion in North America. Greater penetration of the US market could provide another source of asset growth and potentially broaden the firm’s investor base.
